Two 'dedicated' Stockport support workers who started work together as teenagers have retired on the same day 40 years later.
Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon was top of the charts and the first episode of Blackadder had just aired when in 1983 16-year-olds Kathryn Smith and Fiona Fisher both began a Youth Training Scheme (YTS), earning the princely sum of £25 per week plus their bus fare.
Now the pair, who care for adults at the Learning Disability Resource Centre, on Owens Farm Drive in Offerton, have decided to bow out together, taking early retirement on the same day.
Their training included stints at nurseries, schools and looking after the elderly. Mum-of-two Kathryn, who lives in Bredbury, started at Offterton House on a voluntary placement when she was 18. She was offered a paid job and never left.
After her YTS, Fiona completed a college course, worked at Treetops hospital in Marple and went on to provide respite care to those with learning disabilities. The pair, now both 55, were then reunited in 1990 when Fiona began working at the centre.
Kathryn, who is married to Stuart and has two daughters – Aisha, 26, and Phoebe, 25 - said: “Over the years we’ve done everything together.
"There have been our weddings, having our children, being godparents to each other’s children, supporting each other when our parents were poorly and later passed away and now, we are retiring - we have done it all together.”
The pair, both 55, say they are now planning a well-earned sunshine holiday together and are looking forward to becoming ‘ladies who lunch.' However, they say couldn't bare leaving the service users at the centre completely and still plan on doing some day shifts.
“I don’t think we could break away completely," said Fiona, who lives in Hazel Grove. "The best thing about our jobs is the service users at the centre and they have been so emotional since finding out we are retiring, and the staff that we work with are just fabulous.
"We come in in the morning and we are like minor celebrities, everybody is always pleased to see us. Obviously, everything is not always perfect, but we help them through their tough times too. It’s been a privilege being part of their lives.”
“There’s no other job like it," Kathryn added. "We go into and leave work in a good mood. The service users will just come out with a song, or we’ll have a little dance with people.
"We help them with literacy, numeracy or cooking, everything really to help them move into living independently. Every day is different.”
To mark their retirement on January 13, a party was thrown for the pair, who worked for the NHS but were managed by Stockport Council at the day centre followed by a send-off with colleagues at a local pub.
Councillor Keith Holloway, Cabinet member for Health and Adult Social Care at Stockport Council, said: “Thank you to Kathryn and Fiona for their years of dedicated service and support for those with learning disabilities in the borough.
"It is such an important and invaluable job that they have done. Both ladies will be missed by everyone, not only those who attend but also the staff who have had the pleasure to work alongside them and I know that everyone wishes them a happy retirement.”
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